On Friday evening, the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, held a town hall event at the Crown Complex in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he engaged with the audience for an hour discussing topics such as immigration, hurricane relief, veteran affairs, and international relations. Trump also pledged that if re-elected, he would rename the largest army military base, Fort Liberty, back to Fort Bragg to uphold American tradition.
At the beginning of the event, Trump brought up the issue of whether Fort Liberty should be changed back to Fort Bragg, and with the support of the audience, he promised to implement this change if elected. He emphasized his lead in all polls and expressed concerns about election fraud. He urged supporters to go out and vote to ensure enough votes to prevent fraud.
“I was asked the first question when I came in – should Fort Liberty be renamed back to Fort Bragg?” Trump said amidst cheers from the audience. “Yes, we will do that – when we win, I will do it. We did win from Fort Bragg twice in the world wars, right? Now is not the time to change the name. But we will do it. We will make every effort. We will change it back. We need to restore our country.”
Trump continued, “And we are leading in all polls. We should be able to win. But remember, they cheat a lot. We need to have such high numbers of votes that cheating is impossible. We need a margin of victory high enough that cheating is impossible.”
Fort Liberty is the largest U.S. Army base where the Army Airborne and Special Operations Forces are stationed.
The base was originally named Fort Bragg, after Confederate General Braxton Bragg from the Civil War era. However, in June 2023, the Biden administration’s Department of Defense initiated a renaming effort to sever ties with Confederate historical figures, eventually renaming it Fort Liberty. Bragg was a slave owner who led the Southern army during the Civil War but ultimately faced defeat.
During the 2020 election campaign, some voters suggested Trump to rename legendary military bases, including Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, and Fort Benning in Georgia.
However, Trump responded, “These commemorative and formidable bases are already part of America’s great heritage, embodying the history of victory and freedom. America trained and deployed our heroes on these sacred lands and won two world wars. Therefore, my administration will never consider renaming these majestic legendary military facilities.”
Trump said, “The history of us being the greatest country in the world cannot be tampered with. Salute to our military!”